Review Wednesday: Cinderella's Shoes by Shonna Slayton

*DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW UNTIL YOU HAVE READ CINDERELLA'S DRESS. THERE MAY BE SOME SPOILER. If you want to read this series, read my review about Cinderella's Dress by clicking on the link: Review: Cinderella's Dress by Shonna Slayton

Title: Cinderella's Shoes (Cinderella's Dress #2)

Author: Shonna Slayton

1st Date of Publication: October 6, 2015

ISBN: 9781633751231

# of Pages: 400

Genre: Historical Fiction

Age Rating: 13+

Buy on Amazon

Book Description: 
The war may be over, but Kate Allen’s life is still in upheaval. Not only has she discovered that Cinderella was real, but now she's been made Keeper of the Wardrobe, her sole responsibility to protect Cinderella’s magical dresses from the greed of the evil stepsisters’ modern descendants.

But Cinderella’s dresses are just the beginning. It turns out that the priceless glass slippers might actually exist, too, and they could hold the power to reunite lost loved ones like her father—missing in action since World War II ended. As Kate and her boyfriend, Johnny, embark on an adventure from New York to Italy and Poland in search of the mysterious slippers, they will be tested in ways they never imagined.

Because when you harness Cinderella's magic, danger and evil are sure to follow...

Setting: 1942 (Post-WWII), New York, Italy, and Poland

Point of View:  3rd Person- Kate Allen

Goodreads Rating: 4.05

My Rating: 4.25

Part of the Book that Caught My Attention: Both

View on the Cover: The shoe is beautiful. Although shouldn't it be blue or clear like in the story.
View on Title: Cinderella's shoes are the main reason for the original plot so I wonder if there's something really special about them like the dress did in the first novel.

Pros:

• This novel seemed to have a little more mystery about it. In the first book, it was clear that the dress has magical powers, but in the second book, it wasn't clear whether Cinderella's shoes had special powers. There was also the mystery of whether Kate's father was really dead or not.
• This novel takes you further than just New York as Kate travels with the Princess and her granddaughter, Nessa, to Italy and eventually Poland.
• There is a lot more characterization in this novel.
• Johnny is pretty awesome as he seems to be extremely supportive of Kate and letting her do what she thinks is best. 
• The Princess's granddaughter, Nessa, is a girl who wants to understand her role and be more of an active part in Cinderella's dresses as she learns more about her role.
• When I was reading the first novel, I was wondering why the Cinderella's dress was handed to her aunt rather than her grandmother like what was supposed to happen. There is a reason for it.

Cons:

• The only issue had was that there wasn't really enough action in it. There could have been a little more action than there was in the book.

Shonna Slayton's Website:

http://shonnaslayton.com/

Other Recommendations:

The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki
Between the Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Children of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek

Review Wednesday: Cinderella's Dress by Shonna Slayton

Title: Cinderella's Dress (Cinderella's Dress #1)

Author: Shonna Slayton

1st Date of Publication: June 3, 2014

ISBN: 9781622663408

# of Pages: 322

Genre: Historical Fiction

Age Rating: 13+

Buy on Amazon

Book Description: 
Being a teenager during World War II is tough. Finding out you're the next keeper of the real Cinderella's dress is even tougher.
Kate simply wants to create window displays at the department store where she's working, trying to help out with the war effort. But when long-lost relatives from Poland arrive with a steamer trunk they claim holds the Cinderella's dress, life gets complicated.

Now, with a father missing in action, her new sweetheart shipped off to boot camp, and her great aunt losing her wits, Kate has to unravel the mystery before it's too late.

After all, the descendants of the wicked stepsisters will stop at nothing to get what they think they deserve.

Setting: 1940s (WWII), New York

Point of View:  3rd Person- Kate Allen

Goodreads Rating: 3.61

My Rating: 4.0

Part of the Book that Caught My Attention: Both

View on the Cover: The dress on the cover is absolutely beautiful and so is the girl modeling with the dress. It is mesmerizing for me to look at.
View on Title: I love reading fairy tales, which was intriguing because it only concentrated on Cinderella's dress rather than her shoes which I believe is the most important part of the original story since it continues the plot line of the original tale.

Pros:

• I love how it is set in World War II era. Many of my favorite historical fiction books are written in this time period because there are so many aspects of society that can be shown. This one specifically shows a couple aspects of World War II
• The fashion world while rationing in efforts to support troops and the war effort. It truly shows how people appreciated the little they were able to have while trying to make things beautiful during a time of struggle.
• This also shows immigration of those oppressed during the war through Kate's great uncle and great aunt who ran away from Poland. The United States became a refuge for those who were oppressed by the Nazis and their followers.
• Some of the things teens did for fun or dates are shown through going out to get shakes and trying to do little things to impress each other but in a 1940s way.
• The concept of "Keeper of the Wardrobe" was interesting because it is a royal duty given to a servant girl who knew and loved the real Cinderella who is Polish and has a complicated name that starts with a "K." The duty is handed down to each generation but it's a dangerous task because the step sisters' descendants come with a vengeance for the dress themselves.
• Kate Allen's character is an excellent way to show a young woman who is fighting for her own rights while fighting for the country she loves.
• I also love that I got to see some of the Polish culture and language that was most likely used during that time.

Cons:

• The only thing that bothered me was that I wanted more from certain characters. I felt that it concentrated so much on Kate Allen rather than some of the other characters such as Johnny Day, her brother Floyd, and her mother.

Shonna Slayton's Website:

http://shonnaslayton.com/

Other Recommendations:

The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki
Between the Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Children of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek

Review Wednesday: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Title: The Joy Luck Club

Author: Amy Tan
1st Date of Publication: 1989

ISBN: 978014303809
# of Pages: 408

Genre: Historical Fiction

Age Rating: 13

Buy it on Amazon

Book Description:
In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. With wit and wisdom, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between these four women and their American-born daughters. As each reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined.

Setting: 1940s in San Francisco, California
Point of View: 1st person- 7 female characters

Goodreads Rating: 3.89

My Rating: 4.0

 

Part of the Book that Caught My Attention: Cover

View on the Cover: I love the flower on the cover. It is very intricate and beautiful. The color red with the gold and black go well together, but it does not really tell you much about the book.
View on Title: What brings joy? What about luck? What does the club consist of? Who is in it or how does one get into this club?

Pros:

• There is a glimpse of Chinese culture and Chinese-American culture. It allows a deeper appreciation for Chinese culture as the mothers try to show their daughters where they came from.
• There is 7 different perspectives but it flows so well from one character to another.
• The mother-daughter relationships are very real. The reader is able to see how the daughters mature even as mid-30 year olds.
• It's historical fiction and talks about life during WWII in China and follows through the baby boomers' lives in the United States.
• Many of the female characters correlate even if they are not related. It shows that no one is truly alone. This theme is seen even at the mah jong table when Jing-mei "June" Woo joins in place of her mother after her mother's death.

Cons:

• There are so many characters with Chinese names that it is a little difficult to understand who is who at first.
• I wish it was longer because it continued to get more interesting. It made me wanting more.

Critics' Reviews
"Intensely poetic, startlingly imaginative and moving, this remarkable book will speak to many women, mothers and grown daughters, about the persistent tensions and powerful bonds between generations and cultures. The narrative voice moves among seven characters. Jing-mei "June" Woo recounts her first session in a San Francisco mah-jong club founded by her recently dead, spiritually vital, mother. The three remaining club members and their daughters alternate with stories of their lives, tales that are stunning, funny and heartbreaking. The mothers, all born in China, tell about grueling hardship and misery, the tyranny of family pride and the fear of losing face. The daughters try to reconcile their personalities, shaped by American standards, with seemingly irrational maternal expectations. "My mother and I never understood each other; we translated each other's meanings. I talked to her in English, she answered back in Chinese," says one character. A crippling generation gap is the result: the mothers, superstitious, full of dread, always fearing bad luck, raise their daughters with hope that their lives will be better, but they also mourn the loss of a heritage their daughters cannot comprehend. Deceptively simple, yet inherently dramatic, each chapter can stand alone; yet personalities unfold and details build to deepen the impact and meaning of the whole. Thus, when infants abandoned in China in the first chapter turn up as adults in the last, their reunion with the one remaining family member is a poignant reminder of what is possible and what is not. On the order of Maxine Hong Kingston's work, but more accessible, its Oriental orientation an irresistible magnet, Tan's first novel is a major achievement." --Publishers Weekly
"The "joy luck club" is a mah jong/storytelling support group formed by four Chinese women in San Francisco in 1949. Years later, when member Suyuan Woo dies, her daughter June (Jing-mei) is asked to take her place at the mah jong table. With chapters alternating between the mothers and the daughters of the group, we hear stories of the old times and the new; as parents struggle to adjust to America, their American children must struggle with the confusion of having immigrant parents. Reminiscent of Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior in its vivid depiction of Chinese-American women, this novel is full of complicated, endearingly human characters and first-rate story telling in the oral tradition. It should be a hit in any fiction collection." --Library Journal

Amy Tan's Website:
http://amytanauthor.com/

Other Recommendations:

Children of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek
The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa

Review Wednesday: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Title: Salt to the Sea

Author: Ruta Sepetys
1st Date of Publication: February 2, 2016

ISBN: 9780399160301
# of Pages: 393

Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction

Age Rating: 13+

Buy on Amazon 

Book Description:
Winter, 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets.

Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies…and war.

As thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom.

Yet not all promises can be kept.

Inspired by the single greatest tragedy in maritime history, bestselling and award-winning author Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray) lifts the veil on a shockingly little-known casualty of World War II. An illuminating and life-affirming tale of heart and hope.

Setting: 1945 in Prussia
Point of View: 1st person- Alfred Frick, Florian Beck, Emilia, and Joana 

Goodreads Rating: 4.39

My Rating: 4.50

 

Part of the Book that Caught My Attention: Both

View on the Cover: Why are there so many life preservers? It seems very sad and somewhat morbid through all the blues and grays involved.
View on Title: What or who is the salt to the sea? And why salt? Are they tears? The sea is already salty.

Pros:

• I have read Sepetys's first two novels and I thought this was the best one by far. This is an actual event that happened but both the Nazis and the Russian hid their loss/win because the war was pretty much over and it was accepted. The research put into this event really shows through the reactions of the fictional characters.
• What I loved most was that the book was split into four alternating characters in first person. Changing characters and their ideas is a very difficult task especially if it's more than two, but Sepetys truly pulls off this arduous task.
• The chapters were also very short, which made the novel read so quickly.
• The characters were great and very diverse.
• Emilia is Polish and has to keep her identity hidden but she is also pregnant which means her life is double life or death.
• Joana is Lithuanian and she is a skilled nurse and feels the need to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
• Alfred Frick is Prussian and fairly loyal throughout the novel to gain favor with authorities, which shows how some military officers really were during World War II.
• Florian Beck is German and a traitor to his country, but that's because he follows his heart and does what he thinks is right.
• Of course almost every young adult book, or even adult, has romance. But the romance does not take over the novel and simply enhances the novel to represent more on how high the stakes really are for all four characters.
• The ending was not what most people would expect. It is not completely happy. There is a lot of turmoil that goes on even to the very end.

Cons:

• It was at first hard to follow the characters because there are four characters you have to get to know and be familiar with. This is the only issue I had with it but that's something that everyone will have an issue with at first.

Critics' Reviews:
"Sepetys excels in shining light on lost chapters of history, and this visceral novel proves a memorable testament to strength and resilience in the face of war and cruelty." —Publishers Weekly
"This haunting gem of a novel begs to be remembered, and in turn, it tries to remember the thousands of real people its fictional characters represent. What it asks of us is that their memories, and their stories, not be abandoned to the sea." —Booklist
 "Artfully told and sensitively crafted, Sepetys’s exploration of this little-known piece of history will leave readers weeping." —School Library Journal
"The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn't change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning. Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful." —Kirkus
"This book includes all the reasons why teens read:  for knowledge, for romance, for amazing and irritating characters.  This novel will break readers’ hearts and then put them back together a little more whole." —VOYA
"Sepetys’s...scene-setting is impeccable; the penetrating cold of the journey is palpable, and she excels at conveying the scope of the losses while giving them a human face....[T]his elegiac tale succeeds with impressive research, affecting characters, and keen, often unsettling insights into humans’ counterposed tendencies toward evil and nobility. Readers will be left to discuss which impulse triumphs here." —The Horn Book

Ruta Sepetys's Website:
http://www.rutasepetys.com

Other Recommendations:

Between the Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys
Children of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek